Nigerians are very religious people, we spend millions of naira on donations to churches despite the grim poverty and injustice which prevails in our country.

The average christian nigerian cant get enough of the bible, forever quoting one verse or the other, but perhaps it would be instructive to go back to the origins of our obsession with christianity.

Renowned nigerian scholar and historian Professor Chinweizu Ibekwe analyses the historical origin of christianity in africa in the following article:

by ChinweizuPosted to the Web: Thursday, October 06, 2005

Letter from King Leopold II of Belgium to Colonial Missionaries, 1883The letter which follows is Courtesy of Dr. Vera Nobles and Dr. Chiedozie Okoro.

“Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given to fulfill is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all Belgium interests. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. They speak and submit to a Mungu, one Nzambi, one Nzakomba, and what else I don’t know. They know that to kill, to sleep with someone else’s wife, to lie and to insult is bad. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty [in their underground. To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous] competition and dream one day to overthrow you.

Your knowledge of the gospel will allow you to find texts ordering, and encouraging your followers to love poverty, like “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven” and, “It’s very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” You have to detach from them and make them disrespect everything which gives courage to affront us. I make reference to their Mystic System and their war fetish-warfare protection-which they pretend not to want to abandon, and you must do everything in your power to make it disappear.

Your action will be directed essentially to the younger ones, for they won’t revolt when the recommendation of the priest is contradictory to their parent’s teachings. The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience, avoid developing the spirit in the schools, teach students to read and not to reason. There, dear patriots, are some of the principles that you must apply. You will find many other books, which will be given to you at the end of this conference. Evangelize the niggers so that they stay forever in submission to the white colonialists, so they never revolt against the restraints they are undergoing. Recite every day-“Happy are those who are weeping because the kingdom of God is for them.”

Convert always the blacks by using the whip. Keep their women in nine months of submission to work freely for us. Force them to pay you in sign of recognition-goats, chicken or eggs-every time you visit their villages. And make sure that niggers never become rich. Sing every day that it’s impossible for the rich to enter heaven. Make them pay tax each week at Sunday mass. Use the money supposed for the poor, to build flourishing business centres. Institute a confessional system, which allows you to be good detectives denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of the decision-maker. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours. Never present a chair to a black that comes to visit you. Don’t give him more than one cigarette. Never invite him for dinner even if he gives you a chicken every time you arrive at his house.

“The above speech which shows the real intention of the Christian missionary journey in Africa was exposed to the world by Mr. Moukouani Muikwani Bukoko, born in the Congo in 1915, and who in 1935 while working in the Congo, bought a second hand Bible from a Belgian priest who forgot the speech in the Bible. — Dr. Chiedozie Okoro

We should note:1] that all missionaries carried out, and still carry out, that mandate. We are only lucky to have found King Leopold’s articulation of the aim of all Christian imperialist missionaries to Africa.

2] Even the African converts who today manage the older churches in Africa (the priests, bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals etc of the Roman and Protestant sects), and especially also those who evangelize Born-Again Christianity, still serve the same mandate. Which is why they demonize African gods and Anglicize African names, and drop the names of African deities which form part of African names; and still attack and demolish the African shrines that have managed to survive, e.g. Okija.

3] Those Africans who voluntarily converted to Christianity before the colonial conquest such as Affonso I of the BaKongo in the 15th century probably did not discern the purpose of the brand of Christianity that was supplied to them. Which was probably why they fell easy prey to the missionaries and the white traders and pirates who followed them.

But their Japanese counterparts probably did discern the game, even without access to some version of Leopold’s letter. But even if the Japanese Shoguns did not intuit what Leopold makes explicit, they clearly realized the danger of Japanese converts to Christianity forming a fifth column within Japanese society and state, a fifth column loyal to their co-religionists in Europe. To rid Japan of that danger, in the late 16th century, the Shoguns began their expulsion of Portuguese and Spanish missionaries on the grounds that they were forcing Japanese to become Christian, teaching their disciples to wreck temples, taking and trading slaves, etc. Then, in 1596, it became clear to the Japanese authorities that Christianization had been a prelude to Spanish conquest of other lands; and it quickly dawned on them that a fifth column loyal to Rome and controlled by the priests of a foreign religion was a clear and present danger to the sovereignty of a newly unified Japan. Soon after, the persecution and suppression of Japanese Christians began. Early in the 17th century, sensing the danger from a creed that taught obedience to foreign priests rather than the Japanese authorities, all missionaries were ordered to leave and all Japanese were ordered to register at the Buddhist temples. When Japanese Christians took part in a rebellion, foreign priests were executed, the Spanish were expelled and Japanese Christians were forbidden to travel abroad. After another rebellion, largely by Christians, was put down, the Japanese Christians were suppressed and their descendants were put under close state surveillance for centuries thereafter. In the 1640s all Japanese suspected of being Christians were ruthlessly exterminated. Thus did Japan, by 1650, save itself from the first European attempt to mentally subvert, conquer and colonize it.

4] The African captives who were taken abroad and enslaved, and the Africans at home after the European conquest, having already been forcibly deprived of their autonomy, were in no political position to resist Christianization. Thus the Christianity still practised in all of the African American diaspora, just as that in the African homeland since the start of the 20th century, continues to carry out the Leopoldian mandate.Hence, for example, whereas the White Born-Agains of the USA, when in the US Navy ships in WWII, sang:

“Praise the Lord, And pass the ammunition,” the attitude of African Born-Again converts today is best summed up as : “Praise the Lord, And lie down for the manna.”

Thanks to a century or more of this Leopold-mandated missionary mind control, African Christians are not an activist, self-helping, economically engaged, politically resolute, let alone militant bunch. Hence their putting up with all manner of mistreatment and exploitation by their misrulers, white and black. The most they are disposed to do to their misrulers is to admonish them to “Fear God!”—as one protester’s miserable placard read in last week’s Lagos demonstration against the latest of the murderous fuel price hikes by the OBJ Misgovernment. The idea of an uprising to tame their misrulers is alien to the religiously opiated frame of mind of the Nigerians.

5] The lesson in the contrast between an Africa that the Christian missionaries brainwashed and subverted, and a Japan where this brainwashing and subversion was forcibly prevented, is stark and clear. What then must Africans of today begin to do to save themselves from brainwashing by their White World enemies here on earth?—That is the question.

Our reasoning has been psychologically compromised, our media are also not helping us, they are also in bondage.This can be proven through the movie we watch.They give impression that this things are real and it's a true life experience.

Don't blame your parent for growing you up in poverty. The poverty consciousness was deliberately instilled in them by Catholicism. This consciousness is still perpetuated today among some Protestants. From monasteries to nunneries, the exaltation of poverty was intended to subject us to be mental slaves of the church. The ideas was and still is " let them look for heaven only while we consume their earthly wealth and energies"

Please realise that Christianity still to this day has been rearranged with a white Jesus to make sure that other races see and believe the Caucasian white race is a superior race. They have sabotaged black history within the bible and made it their history thus making other races follow them as a race closer to god. African people need to wake up. Since you are the black African woolly haired man and the original man to evolve from the planet earth you become the manifestation of nature in flesh. When we give out our prayers (etheric mental energy) these forces go to the image in your mind, the white Jesus then channel through to the white male who is the physical manifestation of that image. The Caucasian feed off your mental strength regardless if they are agreeable or disagreeable. With all mental energy from all races channelled through the white Jesus the Caucasian race gain a god complex leading to intentional or unintentional white supremacy.

igbo2011:Africans better wake up before iti s too late. I saw this quote before Religion is true to common people, false to the wise, and useful for hte rulers."

I bet many politicians are thanking the Euroepans for Christianity because the masses are now submissive.

Not only Christianity. Even Islam.When you look at the situation of things in Nigeria, it's clear most people are dissatisfied with the state of things, and want to move forward, enjoy true empowerment and freedom. But they can't just see things without looking through the prism of religion and ethnicity. It basically guides decision making for the vast majority of Africans.

Africans of the planet must no longer allow religion, which naturally does not coincide with your frequency, make you submissive to your natural Enemy. That goes against the natural. You must uprise physically, as well as mentally, as well as Spiritually.

As much as one rebukes the religion , uprising against "it" will not help much in fact that would just get u killed faster and u would end up in even a bigger mess than it is already , the only way to "end" "it" is for the whole entyre world population to stand up against "it" but as we know that is never going to happen , for "it" has already gripped the whole world for been forced to believe "it" and buying "it" the more better "it" works so for those "new" believers every day contribute to "its" existens but the problem is "its" already "got" u by the balls wheather u like "it" or not ,that's "its" "intention" from the start and there is unforturnatly "nothing" that one can do about "it" , "it" will play out to "its" end but unforturnatly that's the "end" for all

we are people in contradiction to the natural human instinct because of the false teachings that was once delivered to Africa by the British missionaries. the fault is from african traditional beliefs But instead of Christianity and Islam solving the problem, they take the aspect of the Bible and quran that suites our faulty traditions to teach Africans, in order to make Christianity and Islam acceptable to us.meanwhile, the British citizens,Saudi Arabia united arab emirates etc, practice the same religions and are morally sound and industrialised.i think we africans are the most foolish people on earth. But it's never too late, we christians can go back to the basics and identify where the missionies got it wrong and do the correction from there. But which pastor in Nigeria is taking the bold step to do that? no one

Conspiracy theory. Africans always looking for who or what to blame for their failure.Stand up and fight for your freedom while still believing in God and Jesus Christ.Christianity is never the problem

thoth:@paxonelHow exactly did the missionaries got it wrong ? can you elaborate on just one example with as much detail as you can ?

you know, our African traditions believe in fiction,juju, spiritualism and diabolism a lot, even before Christianity came. So, it was easy for the missionaries to make Africans believe that the kingdom of God is something spiritual beyond the clouds.meanwhile, the bible says the kingdom of God(Jesus ) is in you.Also, they made us to believe that we can get miracles/prosperity from pastors prayers(that prayers will move mountain without touching it ) without working(touching something to do).But meanwhile, prayers can only move mountain if God will and want it to happen. And God want us to work, mountain will be moved. And because we were diabolical spiritual people,we don't take education seriously, we don't think, we believe this lie. Note that we still don't have good schools in Nigeria, our universities are rated very low (check webometric ranking) the first thing they did was to make African christians believe they are seperated from Jesus, that they are not the kingdom of God on earth, that the kingdom of God is beyond the clouds, let us continue to wait for rapture, and not to work hard on earth and fight for our right .And for us to attend the kingdom (which we already have ) we must continue going to church and give our last money to pastors and pray hard for it. that's why we go to church like mad people, But inspite all the churches and mosque the economy is bad. meanwhile, in Britain and in America, christians know that the kingdom is inside them. what they need to be happy on earth is to learn, work hard and make their money for themselves,share with the poor,fight for their right and enjoy. But we are here suffering in Africa. The rich cannot share with the poor until they are called oga oga

The monkey was climbing a vine to heaven. The monkey had followers. The monkey climbed and climbed, the monkey got so high that all was left to see was his tail. Then his tail disappeared into the sky. Then everyone (the followers) said the monkey must have made it to heaven. So the followers started climbing on the vine. Then the vine broke. Moments later the monkey came tumbling down. That is how religion is created. On blind faith. (monkey see monkey do)

I don't know where to begin actually, i think it's better not to start at all. But to make sure that it worths it i will like to hear your own version of how your people were colonized ?just pour out everything you know ,maybe some of us can learn a lot.

Horus:The monkey was climbing a vine to heaven. The monkey had followers. The monkey climbed and climbed, the monkey got so high that all was left to see was his tail. Then his tail disappeared into the sky. Then everyone (the followers) said the monkey must have made it to heaven. So the followers started climbing on the vine. Then the vine broke. Moments later the monkey came tumbling down. That is how religion is created. On blind faith. (monkey see monkey do)

The problem that has acured is that over the last 100 to 200 hundred years the technology has improved at such a rate that it really has made "life" easier but not every body is able to afford "it" but also a problem that is known is "africans" played no part in 99.9 percent of the "inventions" so there for almost all technology is in the hands of the "white" man so since "white" man came to africa he was able to "fool" the africans with "material" things that "comes across like "magic"" to unbeknowing "africans" and there for "white" man gained power over "black" man for and because of "superior" technology, ultimately "weapons" played the biggest part as in "who" controls "who" and there for "white" man also didn't want "black" man to "know" how and "where" he got the technology from for their "the white man" was and still is running on a "theory" of been able and able and is "the" theory of the "most" power on the planet for "it" works so well , for the "practice" of the "theory" is where and how they obtained the technology and they have made sure that "africans" will not fully comprehend the "power" of the "theory" and rather have "africans" fooled in to the "paying" trap of having to only "buy" the technology only for a "profit" for "it" has u believing that u now must have it and u now need it and you been fooled in to that fact of u must have it

Christianity is not the problem of Africa. We can rise up to become great to the envy of the whole world.We are a great people and God made it so. All we need to do is to sincerely return back to our maker and ask him to help us to achieve greatness. Our leaders need a change of heart and the followers also need a change of heart.Africa will be great and will be known as the continent that fears God.

One can't pick and choose, u either "for" "it" or u against "it" , "it" took all to impose "it" can only take "all" to remove "it" so for those who are for "it" don't be upset when things don't go "your" way, but u have "one" in "it" to blame, and for those who are against "it" , its just "it" again. So if u for "it" u then "must" try your best to reform to "it" for all to "so called benefit" u would have to "sell" your "heart" and "soul" to "it" to achieve "yours" and the nations "goals" and that's the "way" "it" "works" u can't be "for" "it" and then "sit" back going to "church" don't help no one except .... ,OK , now if it wasn't for "it".............. "Paradise"